Magic and Might
by TwinCarcino
Summary: A charismatic thief and a withdrawn mage both cross into Skyrim illegally. Both are captured by Imperials and are sent to Helgen, where they escape. Now that they are together, both are about to change Skyrim forever.
1. Chapter 1

**I had posted this before, but I deleted the original version after I revised it, only two days after first posting it. So here is the new and improved and beta'd version.**

The sound of occasional yelling, horse footsteps, creaky wagon wheels and the bumpy ride would have woke anyone who had been asleep in the wagon

The prison caravan made its way at a decent speed, with a small group of five, all bound and one who even was gagged as well as bound. A dark haired man shouted and yelled, full of terror.

A muscular man towards the front in Stormcloak armor began talking with the rest of the group. He was calm, ready to accept whatever fate awaited them.

"You two were trying to cross the border, huh?" he, Ralof, asked two of them, "Walked right into that imperial ambush, same as us," he chuckled a little at that.

The two he spoke to reacted differently. The young woman just looked away, watching the scenery, trying to take her mind off of what was going to happen to her. Praying that when the cart stopped she would be let go. She did nothing wrong, committed no crime.

The man situated across from her, right between Ralof and the horse thief, just looked at him and then smirked and shrugged, opting not to speak, but found the situation amusing nonetheless.

The horse thief was frightened. Eyes wide and struggling against his binds, yelled at Ralof, blaming the Stormcloaks for their arrest, before making a comment on the man gagged.

"Watch your mouth!" Ralof shouted, "You're talking to the true High King of Skyrim, Ulfric Stormcloak!"

That got the attention of the three as they stared in horror at Ulfric. All of them knew that if they were with Ulfric, then it wasn't going to be some simple trial.

The horse thief began trembling, "Ulfric? Oh gods, but if they captured you….where are they taking us?!"

Ralof looked ahead as he answered, "I don't know, but Sovngarde awaits," he mumbled.

"Sovngarde? Hah!" The other man laughed shaking his head, "You still believe in those children stories?" he asked with a mocking grin.

That reaction received a harsh glare from Ralof, "Sovngarde is no fairytale," was his answer, though the other remained amused and nonbelieving.

The horse thief continued to cry out in panic and fear, terrified, especially as they entered Helgen and heard a soldier yell out that the headsman was ready.

They knew what was to come: a public execution.

They passed by General Tullius and a group of Thalmor, which got Ralof to spit out some insults under his breath.

"Damn Imperial bastards," Ralof muttered vehemently.

The cart slowed down and the man between the horse thief and Ralof laughed, "Well, I hope they don't mess up my face too much, when they, you know, decapitate me," he joked, attempting to offer some cheer.

It didn't do anything to help lighten the mood and he fell silent, though the woman had to give him props for trying. All of them were scared, they did their best to hide it behind masks of acceptance and confidence, but only the horse thief showed his terror. Crying out to the Imperials, trying to get them believe that he wasn't with them.

The wagon stopped, an Imperial Captain and another soldier stood in front of them with a list.

"Imperials love their lists," Ralof muttered as they climbed out of the cart.

The grin returned to the other mans face, "Hey now, of course we love lists," He commented, pretending to look hurt, "Our memories are so terrible that we wouldn't be able to remember _anything_ without them!"

Ralof looked surprised. The man didn't look like an Imperial, he looked like a Nord, but upon closer examination, one could see the Imperial traits in him.

He was tall, his muscular form, not as prominent as Ralof's, showed that he had the warriors build. He was thinner than the Stormcloak, lithe, with a light tan and his hair was short, messy and a sooty black color.

"Shut up over there!" the Captain shouted, "Now, when we call your name, step to the block!"

The group went silent as she turned to Hadvar who began listing the names, first Ulfric, than Ralof. The horse thief, Lokir, tried to run but was shot by an archer. That left only the Imperial and Nord to be called up. The two fidgeted where they stood, refusing to look at Lokir's dead body as they were motioned to come forward..

Hadvar gave them a curious look and scanned his list as the two stepped forward, "Who are you?" he asked them.

The Imperial gave a smirk, "Colter Snowstrum," He said proudly, hiding his fear behind his pride.

The two soldiers turned to the woman, "And you are?" Hadvar asked.

She looked down as she answered. "I'm…" she said her name quietly, mumbling the answer so low that no one was able to hear her.

"Speak up!" the Imperial Captain barked sharply, causing her to step back in fright. Colter gently nudged her forward the best he could with bound hands, and gave her a kind smile.

Speaking slowly and trembling, she repeated her name, louder, "Shuurei….Shadowsteel," she said, her voice began to fade at the end, but it was loud enough to hear.

Colter gave her a smile as if to say 'good job', and Hadvar reviewed his list.

"Captain, neither of them are on the list," he informed her, "What should we do?"

Hope sprung up within Colter and Shuurei. They weren't on the list. The Imperials had no concrete reason to kill them. They had to let them go, right?

The Captain glared at him, obviously not at all entertained by his question, and reached over, ripping the list from his hand and tearing it to pieces. "Forget the list! They go to the block!"

The hope that they had was destroyed. Apparently the Empire _could_ execute them for no reason.

"By your orders, Captain," Hadvar sighed and gave the two a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, I'll see to it that your remains are sent home," he assured them.

Colter gave a short laugh. "Yeah, they'll _love_ to receive that delivery," he muttered, sarcasm dripping from every word as the two began following the Captain the few feet over to the crowd, where people were screaming at the Stormcloaks, calling them traitors, while Tullius mocked Ulfric.

A trickle of sweat began to form in the back of Colters neck. Though he didn't show it- years of acting and lying taught him how to put up a strong façade, the young man was scared. Did he deserve to die? Yes, he probably did and there was no denying that. But that didn't mean Colter was ready for this, only twenty four, he still had a whole life ahead of him.

To offer some kind of distraction for both the woman beside him and himself, turned to Shuurei and gave her a small smile, hoping to help ease her nerves, even if just a little. "So, how'd they catch you anyway?" he asked in a whisper.

Shuurei looked away, head lowered, a silent but clear message: I don't want to talk about it.

Colter shrugged at her response, "Got it. Touchy subject huh?" he said and turned his attention to the block, they were bringing up the first victim, a Stormcloak who seemed eager. Maybe he was just sick of all of this and wanted it to be over. Colter could relate to him if that was the case.

There was a silent pause as some odd sound was heard. Heads scanned the skies and the surrounding area, whispers and worry rose, and Hadvar voiced the question everyone was wondering: what was that.

But the question was shot down by yells that it was nothing, and the crowd was quick, if not reluctant, to accept that.

The Captain brought attention back to the execution, and soon the Stormcloaks head had fallen into the basket.

Ralof lowered his head at this, "As fearless in death as he was in battle," He mumbled, head lowered in a silent prayer for his fallen comrade.

More screams came from the Helgen citizens as they cheered for the Imperial.

"Next prisoner! The Nord in rags!" She yelled glaring right at Shuurei.

Her legs were frozen. She was next. Shuurei stared in terror at them, at the headsman and the probably still warm body of the dead Stormcloak lying at the block. A layer of sweat began to form and her eyes were wide as she tried to step forward.

But she was paralyzed with fear.

The same sound resonated through the air once more, and as before questions shot through the crowd, this time louder.

"Did you hear it? There it was again!" Hadvar yelled.

The Captain gave him a sharp look, ordering him to shut up and yelled once more. "I said _next prisoner!_" she barked.

Colter gave her a strained smile, "Be brave," he whispered to her, as she slowly made her way to the block.

Each step was shaky, her legs threatening to give out under her, and the few feet to her execution felt like a mile. She wondered if she was shaking so badly that the everyone could see it, it felt like it.

She didn't want to die, not like this and not now. They had no reason to kill her, this wasn't fair! She continued to scream inside of her head, hoping that someone might stop this. How could the Empire be this cruel?

When she reached them, Captain forcefully shoved her onto her knees, and pressed her face against the block. The stone block scratched roughly against her face, but was also slightly warm and wet from the blood of the previous prisoner.

She stared in fear at the Headsman, cold dread filling her body.

He looked at her as he raised his axe. It was high in the air when something large and dark landed on the tower behind him, letting out a roar with such force that several, including him, were knocked to their knees.

If Shuurei wasn't already in such a state of terror, she might have screamed at the sight of the dragon. It looked like something out of a nightmare.

"What in Oblivion is that!" an Imperial yelled as though it wasn't obvious. Archers began aiming and firing at the dragon, for all the good that did.

The dragon let out another roar, and the world around Shuurei became blurry.

She then felt something shaking her quickly, causing the stone block to become even more painful against her face. She wanted to move, to swat the person away but her hands were still bound and her body was once again frozen in fear.

"Shuurei! Get up! Hurry! We won't be given another chance!"

From the sound of the voice, Shuurei could tell it was Colter. He was trying to get her up.

"Hurry up you two!" Ralof yelled ahead of them, and Colter pulled Shuurei up the best he could with bound hands, helping her as she stumbled after the Stormcloak soldier into a tower. The people around them went into a frenzy of terror as they tried to kill the dragon, paying little attention to the prisoners.

As they entered the tower, the doors closed behind them. Colter helped Shuurei sit down, and slowly her sight began clearing up and her head stopped spinning.

Ulfric rubbed his jaw as the gag was removed, and he and Ralof began arguing over what happened as the few Stormcloaks tended to their injuries the best they could.

"That was definitely not a fairytale," Colter broke in, siding with Ulfric, "Fairytales are supposed to be nice and sweet and _not trying to kill you!"_

Shuurei nodded to agree with him, but as the three men continued to talk, she tuned them out, wondering if the tower would be durable against the dragon, and if the Imperials would attack them for running. They probably had their hands full protecting Helgen though.

Colter left the conversation shortly, and sat beside Shuurei, pondering if one of the rebels were going to cut their binds soon. His racing heart and his skin taking on paler look being the only evidence to his own fear. But his rest was short lived as the two were forced back up.

"Come on, up the tower!" Ulfric ordered Shuurei and Colter, who did as told.

Colter, considered questioning the Jarl on the logic behind this plan of his as he jogged up the stairs, followed by Shuurei and Ralof behind her. They were just half way up when the dragon smashed through the side of the wall, and a rain of fire came after.

Shuurei was pushed against the wall as Colter got her out of the way of the fire. The blood roaring in Colters ears was louder then the dragons, as he kept the two of them out of the monsters line of sight. If it heard Shuurei's scream, it ignored it as it left the tower just a few seconds later.

They hesitated as the fire died down. The dragon had caused the rubble to block the stairs. During their hesitation, Ralof pushed them at the ledge of where the dragon broke in, "See that inn over there? Jump through the roof and I'll meet you on the other side!" he said as he ran down the steps to regroup with Ulfric.

Colter and Shuurei stood there, unwilling to jump, both thinking of what a suicidal idea Ralof had. Did these Stormcloaks ever have a sane idea?

"I think they're just throwing us to the wolves so they can escape," Colter said as he turned to look at her. He forced himself to look amused at the whole situation, "But hey, not the first time someone's done that to me. Are ready to jump?"

Shuurei took a step back but then stepped forward again. Now wasn't a time to run scared. Besides she had nowhere to run too.

"Yeah," she mumbled quietly, a simple lie.

Colter nodded and focused on the inn, "On the count of three okay? If you're worried I'm going to leave you to the dragon and run, then relax," He said and gave her a friendly smile, "I'm sticking to you until this is all over, I got a good feeling about you."

She turned a light shade of pink and looked away, "O…okay?" She wasn't certain how to react to what he had said.

He turned at the inn and began the count, "3…2…1…jump!" with that they both leapt from the tower, stumbling and falling to their knees onto the inn, gaining scratches and cuts.

Colter winced in pain as he hit the broken roof before falling to the floor, "You okay?" He asked the Nord as he pushed himself up.

Shuurei made a sound of affirmation as she got up, and the two headed towards the stairs, going onto ground level before hiding behind the broken wall.

There were some Imperial soldiers ahead, including Hadvar, and Colter shoved Shuurei against the wall once again, her aggravation at being shoved by everyone lately was becoming even with her terror. The soldiers scattered when the dragon landed in front of them.

"We need to go find Ralof and get out of here," Colter said as the dragon took to the air again and they ran in the direction it had been.

The soldiers were yelling and civilians were crying out. Colter made a face as they ran by some burnt corpses, trying not to let his fear show as he guided Shuurei out of the warzone. The smaller figure was, on the other hand, shaking and fighting back tears from either fear or smoke, possibly both, as she followed him.

"It's going to be all right, Shuurei," Colter assured her as they pressed their backs against the wall, both looking up in horror as the Dragon landed on the same stone wall, and let out a bout of fire. It then flew off, but not before looking down. Shuurei could have sworn it looked right at them.

The two started running again, archers and soldiers were screaming, no one seemed to notice them as they ran by the Imperial soldiers.

"There you are!" Ralof yelled as he came into view, "Follow me, into the Keep!" With that he ran to a door, the two others followed him as he opened the door and closed it behind them.

The room was empty apart from a dead Stormcloak soldier, whom Ralof was quick to be at the side of. He spoke his goodbye softly, sorrow etched on his face..

Shuurei and Colter stood at the side, panting for breath and exchanging glances to confirm that the other was still there, unable to believe the luck they ran into, escaping execution. But was it truly luck that had struck? Was what awaited them going to be far worse than death?

"A dragon. A fucking dragon," Colter breathed, the events that had just happened were finally taking effect and that mixed with the adrenaline coursing through his body, he began laughing. Ralof and Shuurei watched with concern as he bent over, laughing hard and finishing as he fell to a knee, "Oh gods, this is just…this is a fucking nightmare!"

Ralof nodded. "Aye, it's not safe to escape from above. Come here, let me cut your binds," He said.

Colter and Shuurei stepped towards him, and held their arms out for him, relieved to finally be free of the binds. Ralof took out a dagger and cut the ropes from Colter and then Shuurei. The two rubbed their wrists and stretched their arms, relishing in feeling the ropes slip from their raw wrists.

"Feel free to take his gear," Ralof told them gesturing to his dead friend. "He won't need it."

Colter began rummaging through the Stormcloak, and handed Shuurei the armor, "You want it?" he asked and she shook her head.

"I can…I'm not a close combat person…" She explained slowly, when she received curious gazes she ducked her head, "I use magic…" she mumbled. A partial truth, she wouldn't mind having armor but that would require two things she wasn't very comfortable with; stripping corpses of their own clothes and stripping to her undergarments in front of two men she didn't really know.

Ralof raised an eyebrow, "Mage, eh?" he asked and she nodded in confirmation.

Colter just shrugged, it didn't matter either way. Shuurei turned red and turned around when he stripped himself of his own rags, replacing them with the armor. When he was done he let her know and took the axe, giving it a few practice swings. "Nice weapon, not the best, but it has a good appearance and a decent blade," he noted as Ralof tried to open the doors. Both were locked.

He went to the other door, and fell back almost immediately, "Imperials!" he hissed softly.

At that, the three took to hiding, and two Imperials opened the door. It was a soldier and the Captain, and they didn't stand a chance when they were ambushed.

Colter and Ralof were quick to attack, and while they had axes baring down on them Shuurei used the spells flames on them, letting them burn. They fell dead before they had a chance to fight back.

Kneeling down, Colter began rummaging through the two bodies, and then much to Shuureis surprise and horror, began removing his armor. She once again turned around out of a sense of decency, her face red once more, but spared a peek over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he began stripping the captain of her armor and putting it on himself, he looked impassive as the dead woman was left in just her undergarments, but Shuurei looked away again.

Colter finished putting the captains armor on himself and held out the light armor from the other fallen soldier, "Imperial armor is better than Stormcloak armor. No offence," he added to Ralof and gave her a look denying any argument, "You need armor too, I don't care what you say."

With a sigh, Shuurei decided that it would be better to not argue with him and began placing the armor over her rag like clothes. When both had Imperial armor on, Colter handed her a sword. For when she ran out of magicka, he had said.

Colter grinned in excitement as he gave the sword a few swings, and Ralof unlocked the other gate. "Time to find out if escaping execution was really worth it."

**Liked it? Hated it? let me know what you thought of this.**


	2. Chapter 2

Colter stood at the mouth of the exit. Shuurei and him were still there after escaping Helgen. Ralof had gone on ahead to Riverwood without them, as Shuurei needed to rest after using up to much magicka. Colter had insisted that he would stay with her.

Before he had gone though, Ralof had been kind enough to give Colter a map.

Shuurei was sitting on a rock not that far from Colter, head down and blonde hair sticking to her damp forehead. She no longer had the Imperial armor on, having swapped the armor for mage robes that Colter looted off of a dead mage. She had said that the enchanted robes would be better for her as they sped up her magicka regeneration.

Though the process of changing into them was embarrassing as it required some more corpse stripping, and she herself had to strip from her prisoner clothes this time. The men thankfully had enough decency to turn around for her to do it.

"Your magic back yet?" Colter asked as he moved over to her. He brought the back of his hand to his face, wiping some sweat off.

Shuurei nodded slowly, and Colter helped her off of the rock.

"Come on, we need to get to Riverwood before it gets dark," he reminded her and then gestured to his bag, "We can probably sell some of the things in here, get some gold for supplies." His bag that he had stolen in the keep was bulging, full of just about anything he found that could have any bit of worth.

The bag itself was on top of a quiver of arrows with a bow in it, and the light shield that he had found was over the bag, it looked so awkward to carry but Colter didn't appear bothered by it at all.

His previous career had taught him how to carry as much items as he could, giving him a better carrying capacity then most men. It had also given him a keen eye for worth, meaning most of what he had grabbed, while not the greatest, was worth _some_ gold.

Shuurei mumbled something in agreement with him and they began their walk to Riverwood, Colter holding the map out to see how long it would be, and happily let her know that it wasn't that far of a walk."

"Looks like it's just down this path, maybe twenty minutes," Colter explained as he put the map away and the two fell into a new silence.

To say the least, it wasn't the best situation, Shuurei was perfectly fine with the silence, but Colter hated it, it was torture to the talkative man, as seen from their escape and his nonstop remarks, and it was plain to see how badly he wanted to talk.

But Colter knew Shuurei wasn't talkative, and that forcing her into conversations wasn't a good idea, so he kept his mouth shut.

After ten minutes of walking down the gentle slope, Colter was balancing on a log as he walked, arms stretched out when she spoke up.

"So…what's your story?" she asked hesitantly.

Colter jumped from the log to walk at her side, a slightly smug smirk on his face as she initiated a conversation. To him, this was a bit of a victory.

"What do you mean?"

Colter's smirk was teasing now and Shuurei looked away when she spoke again. "Why did you come to Skyrim? I mean you were crossing the border too, right?" The worry that she had made a false assumption was now evident. He might not have crossed the border like she had.

In response to her expression of doubt, Colter put a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter before answering, "It's a long story, but I suppose we have the time." He was silent for a second before he began speaking once again.

"Well, to begin, I'm from Cyrodiil, my father, a Nord, was from Skyrim and always talked about this place. So I guess that gave me a desire to visit here sometime, but that's not the reason I returned."

Colter continued talking; explaining how his parents had been successful mine owners, and how he worked there until he was sixteen. Sometime in that year, he had realized that he didn't want to be a miner, and left to find his own life.

His career began only a year later after gambling and losing the money he had brought on his travels. Desperate, Colter had resorted to pickpocketing and had in fact learned he was talented at the art. His life as a thief had thus begun.

"I was in this thieves group," Colter said, voice laced with pride and arrogance. "I was their chief I suppose; the best one there too." The group had been so good that no one even knew who they were apparently. Shuurei suspected that was exaggeration on his part.

He narrowed his eyes and looked down, frowning and taking on a bitter tone.

"There was this one guy, he was a friend, sort of. We were rivals in the group, both extremely good, but he envied my role, and was kind of an asshole, really. He wanted to be leader. So he screwed up my last job."

Colter went on to explain how he was going to steal from a Count, but his rival had tipped him off and so the guards had followed Colter back to the hideout undetected. When he arrived, so did the guards and his rival accused Colter of betrayal.

"If I hadn't ran, I would have been dead. My plan when I run was to always go to Elsweyr, so they assumed I went there when I snuck into Skyrim. Too bad I didn't pay attention, and got mixed up with the Stormcloaks, and well, you know what happens after that." He sighed but his sigh turned into a smile as he wrapped an arm around Shuureis shoulder and brought her into a side hug.

"_But_ I wouldn't have gotten to meet you if that hadn't happened, right Shu?" he asked jokingly. [He gets very friendly very fast, doesn't he?]

She stared at him in confusion, "Shu?" She asked, more focused on the nickname then what he had just said. Though she was a tad disappointed to learn that he was a thief.

Colter laughed and let go of her, "I shortened your name, Shuurei is kind of a mouthful to me. Besides, Shu is cute!"

Shu's face turned a light pink, and before she could respond, Colter broke into a run, yelling that they were at Riverwood. She shouted at him to wait up and began running after him, almost running into him when he suddenly stopped.

Colter looked around, trying to map out where everything was in his head.

He turned to Shu and removed his backpack, handing it to her. "I'm going to try and find Ralof, see if there is anything we need to know. Can you go down to the town Merchant or trader or whoever and see if you can sell any of this? Maybe buy some potions too?" he asked.

Shu took the bag and she nodded, not in any position to really argue with him and had no reason to argue with him in the first place. She slung the bag over her shoulder and stifled a grunt from the heaviness of it.

Colter gave her a smile and walked away to do his task and Shuurei looked around, only then realizing that she didn't even know where she could sell their items at.

Spotting Sven who was heading back to his house, she sprinted over to him, almost tripping under the weight of the bag. How could Colter carry that the whole way to Riverwood?

Sven turned to her when she caught up to him. "What do you need?" He asked.

Opening her mouth and closing it, Shu stumbled to find the right words.

"I…um…where are the shops...or merchants at…?" She asked, not sure how to ask but doing the best she could. Would he even know? So far he seemed like an idiot but he lived here.

Sven nodded. "Well, if you're looking to buy armor, Alvor runs the Forge over there. Now if you're looking to sell and buy items, the Riverwood Trader is your best bet," he explained as he pointed to the shop, and Shu thanked him, saying she would go to the Riverwood Trader.

Before she could go, Sven stopped her. "If you're going over to the Trader, would you mind giving Camilla this letter? And telling her it's from Faendal?" he asked her as he held the letter out.

Shu hesitantly took the letter and gave himhim a puzzled look. "I…I thought your name was…um…Sven?" her face felt like it was heating up in embarrassment and Sven just laughed.

"That's my name, but there's this elf named Faendal who's been spending far too much time with her. Once she reads this letter, I'll be surprised if she still invites him over." He said this with a bark of laughter and an air of confidence.

She didn't like this as he walked away, she didn't like what he wanted to do. Glaring at the letter, Shu contemplated finding Faendal and letting him know, but worry struck her. Would he and Sven get in a fight over it? Things could get ugly if she told Faendal, but she might be wrong. She didn't even know him so how could she predict how he would react?

That brought up the other issue over showing it to the elf: she didn't know who he was, if he was the only elf in the town or if there were more, how was she to know? She might accidentally give it to the wrong person, or she might mess up and make matters worse in some way.

Instead, Shuurei gently put the letter in a robe pocket and began walking to the Riverwood Trader, it would probably be best to give it to Camilla herself, and let her decide instead of having the mage make the decision.

As she entered the Riverwood Trader, she paused in the doorway to find the man behind the counter and presumably Camilla arguing. Shuurei just stood there awkwardly, unsure whether to wait or leave until Lucan noticed her, and Camilla sat down in an angry huff.

"Come on in! The Riverwood Trader has anything you could need!" Lucan greeted as Shuurei hesitantly made her way to the counter.

She removed her, or rather Colter's, bag and paused, wondering if she should ask or not but her curiosity won out, "You said something was stolen?" she asked.

The fear was evident on Lucan's face. "Ah, yeah, we might have had a minor…um…break in… But the Riverwood Trader is still open!" He assured Shu and gestured behind him to show that they still had a decent sized stock. "They only took one thing! A golden ornament in the shape of a dragons claw."

Her curiosity was not yet satisfied, "Only one thing? Do you know where these thieves are?" she asked. It sounded like they knew where they were hiding at, so why not go there and retrieve it?"

Before Lucan could answer, Camilla spoke up. "They're hiding out in Bleak Falls Barrow," she said, "I would go, but _someone_ won't let me," she said glaring daggers at Lucan.

He returned her glare with one of his own. "Camilla, I've already explained to you that-"

Shu cut him off, and it was only after she spoke that she wondered if it was a smart move or not. "I could get it back for you."

The siblings stared at her, unsure if they heard her right, and she flinched, stepping back nervously, "Um… if you don't want to… that's fine?"

Lucan waved his arms frantically. "No, no! If you could bring it back, that would be great! Amazing even!" He exclaimed with a smile and turned to his sister. "See, now _you_ don't have to go."

That seemed to have been the last straw for Camilla. "Well, _I_ think she needs a guide!"

"What? No!" Lucan argued but then sighed. "_Fine_! But only to the edge of town!"

Sticking her tongue out at Lucan, Camilla smiled, happy for this victory, and Shu again felt like she should probably leave, but the weight of the bag in her hand reminded her that she was here because she had to sell and buy.

"First… um… I need to sell these things…" Yes, _things_ was the best way to describe what was in the bag. Half of the things Colter had grabbed she didn't even see, so she didn't know what was in there.

So she began emptying the bag, there were several bowls and plates, a few broken and cracked gems, armor and the pelt from the bear they had to kill. She made sure to keep the potions they had found and the spell book she found in the bag.

Lucan examined the items, and the two discussed prices before agreeing on one and the money exchanged hands, only to do so again when Shuurei bought some potions.

When she was done, and hefted the bag back over her shoulder, Camilla stood and smiled.

"Ready to go?" she asked opening the door as the two walked out.

When the door closed, Shu reached into her pocket, pulling out the letter Sven had given her. "Actually, I almost forgot but um… well, Sven wanted me to give this to you… and say it was from a…Faendal?" She wondered if she had the name right, and saw the confusion on Camilla's face.

"What do you mean? Let me see!" Camilla practically ripped the letter from Shu's hand and the mage flinched when she saw the hurt and anger on her face, "Sven…he wanted me to believe Faendal wrote this? That…that bastard!"

She crumpled the letter into her hand and threw it onto the ground, when she had calmed down, she gave Shuurei an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for that, but you should speak to Faendal, he would be pleased to know you stood up for him."

Shuurei nodded slowly, and stopped her again just as she was about to leave, "Wait, I, well, I need to find my friend… to see if he'll want to come too," She began, unsure how Camilla would react but Camilla just smiled.

"Best not to tackle this alone, right?" she mused and pointed at the shop. "I'll wait there, just meet me in front of the Trader when you're ready to go…" She trailed off when she spotted Sven. "I think I should talk with him, while you're fetching your friend."

Shuurei knew that it was best to run, she didn't want to get in the middle of their argument, knowing full well that she would have been the cause of it in the first place. So, instead, she quickly walked away, looking for the mill.

Ralof said his sister worked at the mill, right?

She was at the mill now, but there didn't seem to be anyone.

Shuurei frowned. Did they go somewhere else? Did Colter leave her here? Where were they? Questions were streaming her mind as she looked around, feeling panic bubbling inside her.

"C…Colter?" Shu called out tentatively. "Colter?" she asked louder and began walking, hoping to find him.

Divines, where could he be?

Taking a deep breath, Shuurei sat on a tree stump. If she couldn't find Colter, she would either have to retrieve the claw on her own or tell them she couldn't. Shu didn't want to take back her promise so even that wasn't really an option.

But she wasn't comfortable going in by herself. She didn't know who took the claw and how deadly they were, and even though it's only been a couple of hours. She, though she wouldn't admit it, trusted Colter.

Besides, they looked like they made a decent team when they were fighting the Imperials on their escape.

But where had he gone?

Lowering her head, her body sagged in defeat, her mind no longer wondering where Colter was, but wondering how she was going to retrieve the Claw on her own.

"I could… I could try and learn that new spell on my way up there… and then… I can't use a sneak attack," she mumbled, crossing out an idea of using a sneak attack with magic. The only other weapons besides her magic was a dagger and sword, and she doubted they would last long against a group of bandits.

She ran possible scenarios through her mind as she tried to figure out how she could survive this quest on her own, "Colter's archery could work but… I would need Colter."

"What would you need me for?" Colter asked as he leaned up behind her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and letting they hang limply. This action made Shuurei jump and stand up quickly, knocking the thief down.

"Colter!" she cried out.

Colter laughed while on the ground before standing up and brushing dirt off of his legs. "That's my name," he said and put a hand on his hip. "So, what where you sitting their mumbling for?"

"Where were you?" Shuurei asked, ignoring his question.

He tilted his head to the side, an innocent and curious look on his face, "Inside Gerdur's house," he said as innocently as possible.

Shuurei glared at him for a total of five seconds before giving out a sigh of defeat. "I couldn't find you, but well, I um…" She trailed off, now realizing that she may have signed Colter up for something without consulting him.

"You what?" he asked, encouraging her to continue.

Looking down she said it as quickly as she could. "Imayhaveagreedtofindsomeclawforsomepeopleandmighthavesuggestedyoucometoo!" After that she took a deep breath, then another breath to make up for the oxygen deprivation doing that caused.

She received a blank look from her friend. "Okay…now repeat that, but slower," Colter instructed her, and, cheeks flushing red, she did as she was told but with a better explanation. When she had finished, he rubbed his chin in thought and her fear began to rise.

"So…" he began slowly, keeping her under a critical eye. "Sounds like fun. Why not?"

Shuurei looked up. "So…you actually want to go with me?"

That just earned her a grin from the thief. "Why not? I mean we _are_ a team, aren't we? Why wouldn't I come?"

That brought a small smile to her face, and Colter couldn't help but think of how cute she was. Not an 'I want to date her' kind of cute, but a 'timid kitten' kind of cute. That was why he had taken such a liking to the girl. She was just so adorable and innocent. Well, maybe not innocent. He wasn't sure what her past was, and for all he knew she was a serial killer, but she just looked like a nervous kitten.

That was why he liked to tease her, and why he purposely got her so nervous just then. It was just that amusing, and when he found something that amused him, Colter had a tendency to not let it go.

The thief knew that this would become dull sooner or later, and when she was no longer amusing to him, he didn't know exactly what he was going to do. The obvious choice was to go their separate ways. He wasn't going to outright abandon her though. That would be excessively cruel, but they weren't going to stick together forever.

His train of thought was broken when he noticed that Shu was already farther ahead. "We need to get going or our Guide might get impatient."

Colter took the hint and followed her. "So best meet up with her before she thinks we ditched."


End file.
